Many generations have titles due to their accomplishments or identifying characteristics; the lost generation, beat generation, baby boomers, tech generation. But the newest generation we are welcoming now are the ‘thanks for trying, here’s your prize’ generation. I absolutely detest these people and the parents that raise them. I am totally against abuse of any kind (mental and physical) let me make that very clear, but this new generation is filled with a bunch of coddled privileged ‘never been yelled at’ kids.
When I was younger, people kept score when I played sports and when we did not win we were upset! My teachers all graded my papers in big red ink, I was not hit but if my parents told me to do something I did it before I could find out what the ‘or else’ was. The cartoons I watched were the old school Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, where blood and violence reigned; and Ren & Stimpy or Beavis and Butthead where innuendos, poor jokes and violence were incredibly prevalent. Like any other generation, my generation has it’s ups and downs, and bad apples, but for the most part we are pretty okay (and I speak for myself and those my age I surround myself with.) I find kids today are disrespectful, I never caused a scene with a gang of my friends on public transportation before, I have always called my friends parents Mr. and Mrs. So and So unless otherwise instructed, I never disrespected, blatantly disobeyed, and embarrassed my parents. These are traits I find running rampant in the youth of today’s society.
What has completely corrupted the youth of this new generation is the over-abundance of coddling. Teachers are no longer allowed to use red pen in fears that it will be ‘emotionally scarring’, even if they get a question wrong they get a sticker and a ‘thanks for trying’. What? NO! You got it wrong, go in the back and study and figure out how to do it correctly. Now a days kids are all involved in sports when they’re young, but we don’t keep score and everyone gets ice-cream after. NO! Enough!! There are MVPs, and benchwarmers, okay? Let’s act it! There is no need for EVERYONE to get a prize just for trying in sports. Sports are sports, it’s not ego defeating if you do not win. I can see that rule applying for child Beauty Pageants, but that’s about it. In life, there are winners and losers and we are robbing our children of this very valuable lesson. They are being bred into a world where everything is handed to them and no matter how miserably they fail, it’s okay because they tried. I would be so mad if my parents let me live a lie like that. In real life you do not get points for trying; when you apply for a job if there is someone better and more equipped, they get it; there is no ‘sub-position thanks for applying’ job lined up for you. Basically, what we are robbing our kids of is humility.
Empathy and humility are taught to children at an early age by things like sharing (because you can understand what it’s like to not have a toy someone else has), and when you lose or try your best and still come up short you try harder and you become compassionate towards others when they lose and you don’t. These kinds of ‘natural’ emotions are lost on kids that are perpetually praised and coddled without doing the work. The American Dream is to work really really hard, save, and one day hopefully it will be worth it. That notion has fallen on deaf ears with several generations, but this generation in particular does not understand the importance of things like hard work and determination.
I really pity this new influx of children. They will never understand all these lessons which I, up until this point, have thought to be ‘common sense’. Please, parents, I urge you, do not let your kid be that kid. Teach them some manners [yes, if they come into my house they need to say ‘hello’], set some ground rules, don’t be the ‘pushover parent’, and let them know while failing tasks isn’t ideal, it’s human and it happens! Let’s collectively take a stand and try to salvage this generation from being filled with Hooligans, Rufio[1]s, and ‘lost boys[2]’.
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